Starcraft 2 - Read Post #2 for a useful beginner guide

[JTsyo]

Same thing happened to me. Created a Melee FFA game with 7 insane computers. Couldn't make a FFA on custom mode. No achievement when I won =(

Hoping it's just the achievement server being slow.

Alright reading these posts, I think I know where the confusion lies. When it says custom, it means in multiplayer on the right, there's the create custom game button, not the custom option once you're in the game lobby. You have to do these under multiplayer, I guess not VS AI option in the SP page.

 

[JTsyo]

Spoiler

I'd see Tychus' reluctance to go to char as him trying to avoid having to kill his friend's girl. As much as he wanted to be free, he didn't want to hurt his friend like that. If he saw Kerrigan and had the opportunity, he knew he would go through with it, but if he could just avoid her altogether he wouldn't have to make the choice.

Mengsk wanted Kerrigan dead more than anybody else. While Raynor was a thorn in his side, Kerrigan was the flesh and blood representation of all the atrocities he committed to become ruler. She was his nightmare, and he wanted to get rid of it.

Spoiler

I don't think it was Mengsk that hired Tychus. It seems all this was his son's idea. He wants to kill Kerrigan for the fame. Tychus has been working for the Moebius Foundation and that's owned by the Prince.

 

[Glitchny]

Spoiler

I don't think it was Mengsk that hired Tychus. It seems all this was his son's idea. He wants to kill Kerrigan for the fame. Tychus has been working for the Moebius Foundation and that's owned by the Prince.

Spoiler

It is obviously Mengsk who hired Tychus... The opening cinema sets it up since it is Mengsk's voice-over, and Tychus talks directly to Mengsk right before trying to shoot Kerrigan... Right before he says "I made a deal with the devil Jimmy." I somehow doubt he would be talking to Mengsk about completing his "mission" if he was working for his son...

 

[JTsyo]

Spoiler

It is obviously Mengsk who hired Tychus... The opening cinema sets it up since it is Mengsk's voice-over, and Tychus talks directly to Mengsk right before trying to shoot Kerrigan... Right before he says "I made a deal with the devil Jimmy." I somehow doubt he would be talking to Mengsk about completing his "mission" if he was working for his son...

Spoiler

That would only make sense if Mengsk knew about his son's plan to use Raynor to get to Kerrigan. Why would he hire Raynor's old friend to kill Kerrigan? I admit, the voice did sound like Mengsk but it doesn't follow the story.

Saw this on teamliquid, think it settles it.

Spoiler

The voice saying "you have your orders, carry them out" or we was mengsk, i played the whole game with subtitles (damn language barrier) and it showed up like this:

Mengks: You have your orders...carry them out

So its official fellas

 

[Schfifty Five]

i'm having trouble beating insane AI 1v1.
wtf!

Cannon rush.

 

[Glitchny]

Spoiler

That would only make sense if Mengsk knew about his son's plan to use Raynor to get to Kerrigan. Why would he hire Raynor's old friend to kill Kerrigan? I admit, the voice did sound like Mengsk but it doesn't follow the story.

Saw this on teamliquid, think it settles it.

yea pretty much.

Spoiler

I think that Mengsk sent Tychus to Raynor because he knew that Jim wanted to confront/kill Kerrigan eventually. He was probably just betting that Tychus/Raynor would get closer to her than Mengsk himself could since he didn't have the balls to attack Char. But it does make me think that Valerian might have known more than is revealed in the story.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Cannon rush.

is that it? is there another way without cheese?
i watched replays and it looks like they scout pretty well so i'm not sure how well it would work, and whether they would react accordingly to pylons in their base).

i'm on top of my game and it seems like they were outproducing and outmacroing me (i'm in platinum).
his APM was 700, LOL.

 

[Glitchny]

is that it? is there another way without cheese?
i watched replays and it looks like they scout pretty well so i'm not sure how well it would work, and whether they would react accordingly to pylons in their base).

i'm on top of my game and it seems like they were outproducing and outmacroing me (i'm in platinum).
his APM was 700, LOL.

Well the computer APM is always wrong as I'm pretty sure it reads it as the cpu controlling every unit individually even if they are in a group. So instead of 1 action to move a group of marines it's 1 for each marine. Also the Insane A.I cheats, it gathers 50% more minerals per trip than your gatherers do, which is why they can out macro you.

 

[tydas]

Anyone else's computer get bogged down when there are a lot of units? I've got a core 2 duo w gtx 260 core 16 4 gb ram and on some maps when its obvious there are a lot of units (not even being displayed) everything crawls.

regular campaign or 1 v1 is fine on ultra settings though.

 

[blurredvision]

yea pretty much.

Spoiler

I think that Mengsk sent Tychus to Raynor because he knew that Jim wanted to confront/kill Kerrigan eventually. He was probably just betting that Tychus/Raynor would get closer to her than Mengsk himself could since he didn't have the balls to attack Char. But it does make me think that Valerian might have known more than is revealed in the story.

Spoiler

Who is to say that Mengsk sent Tychus to Raynor in the first place? I guess it could have been Tychus' plan all along, knowing that Raynor was invested in Kerrigan and would most likely go after her. However, I don't buy the theory given by nano concerning why Tychus at first refused to go to Char, calling it a suicide mission. He obviously had no issues trying to kill Kerrigan at the end, I don't see how he'd have any kind of conscious beforehand.

 

[bhanson]

Anyone else's computer get bogged down when there are a lot of units? I've got a core 2 duo w gtx 260 core 16 4 gb ram and on some maps when its obvious there are a lot of units (not even being displayed) everything crawls.

regular campaign or 1 v1 is fine on ultra settings though.

I never understood the need for high graphic settings. I'm playing the game for competition and gameplay and not for aesthetics. I play on low everything and don't have any problems.

I've played on the optimal competitive graphic settings for what seems like forever now. I remember keeping all textures on low in Unreal Tournament 99 but model detail on high to increase contrast in detecting players.

You could at least try medium, there's only a marginal difference between medium and ultra.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Well the computer APM is always wrong as I'm pretty sure it reads it as the cpu controlling every unit individually even if they are in a group. So instead of 1 action to move a group of marines it's 1 for each marine. Also the Insane A.I cheats, it gathers 50% more minerals per trip than your gatherers do, which is why they can out macro you.

this i did not know.

that's a pretty weak move from blizzard. the AI beats you not because of skill but because of economic advantage.

 

[tydas]

I never understood the need for high graphic settings. I'm playing the game for competition and gameplay and not for aesthetics. I play on low everything and don't have any problems.

I've played on the optimal competitive graphic settings for what seems like forever now. I remember keeping all textures on low in Unreal Tournament 99 but model detail on high to increase contrast in detecting players.

You could at least try medium, there's only a marginal difference between medium and ultra.

I should have stressed my main point more, everything starts to get slow even with no units on the screen..i did a 1v1 versus insane using the island trick on lava flows and the game crawled late game..also starts to crawl on some custom maps like starship trooper..i'm wondering if my cpu is the bottleneck?

 

[bhanson]

[/b]

this i did not know.

that's a pretty weak move from blizzard. the AI beats you not because of skill but because of economic advantage.

To Blizzards defense, AI programming in an infinitely complex game like StarCraft is far from trivial. They could probably spend years developing it to be beaten right away by a half-way decent player.

"Very Hard" setting doesn't cheat and is pretty bad. I think any Gold+ player is able to beat it fairly handedly.

Also, it's probably a better use of time for Blizzard to work on multiplayer balance than crafting an AI that the majority is never going to play against a significant amount.

 

[bhanson]

I should have stressed my main point more, everything starts to get slow even with no units on the screen..i did a 1v1 versus insane using the island trick on lava flows and the game crawled late game..also starts to crawl on some custom maps like starship trooper..i'm wondering if my cpu is the bottleneck?

I'm not sure specifically how StarCraft II handles this as I haven't really tried to test it, but there has to be some sort of rendering going on in the background even when nothing is being displayed. At the very least it has to cache a greater amount of data and even if your CPU is the bottleneck then I think turning down your graphics should still help.

Try turning everything on low and check your FPS again.

 

[Barfo]

I never understood the need for high graphic settings. I'm playing the game for competition and gameplay and not for aesthetics. I play on low everything and don't have any problems.

I've played on the optimal competitive graphic settings for what seems like forever now. I remember keeping all textures on low in Unreal Tournament 99 but model detail on high to increase contrast in detecting players.

You could at least try medium, there's only a marginal difference between medium and ultra.

Some of us play to have fun, and part of that is the game looking and sounding cool. To be fair though, I don't notice the pretty stuff in the middle of a game while microing and macroing.

 

[Glitchny]

[/b]

this i did not know.

that's a pretty weak move from blizzard. the AI beats you not because of skill but because of economic advantage.

yea the Very Hard AI is the hardest pure AI setting. insane is in there because it is literally Insane since you are playing at a huge disadvantage, which is why most people rush the cpu to get the insane achievements. At least the cpu doesn't see through fog etc and cheat that way, they still have to scout everything.

I should have stressed my main point more, everything starts to get slow even with no units on the screen..i did a 1v1 versus insane using the island trick on lava flows and the game crawled late game..also starts to crawl on some custom maps like starship trooper..i'm wondering if my cpu is the bottleneck?

Yes it is likely your cpu if it is happening through fog without anything graphical going on. The game has to track all the movements/ai commands in real time even though you can't see it so it will drag everything down.

I never understood the need for high graphic settings. I'm playing the game for competition and gameplay and not for aesthetics. I play on low everything and don't have any problems

It looks better, and the gameplay doesn't change at all if the graphics are better looking. I run everything on ultra and it looks great and plays the same. Actually there is only 1 unit that can cause my frame-rate to drop a noticeable amount. Ground-Mode Vikings, if there are a bunch, 15+ on screen firing their Gatling guns my frame rate dips, it's very strange as it doesn't happen in any other situation.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Game has never lagged on my comp (the one in my sig) on all ultra 1900x1200

 

[bhanson]

It looks better, and the gameplay doesn't change at all if the graphics are better looking. I run everything on ultra and it looks great and plays the same. Actually there is only 1 unit that can cause my frame-rate to drop a noticeable amount. Ground-Mode Vikings, if there are a bunch, 15+ on screen firing their Gatling guns my frame rate dips, it's very strange as it doesn't happen in any other situation.

If your FPS drops at all then it does affect gameplay. Even if the only situation where your FPS drops happens 1 in every 20 games, that's not worth it and you're better off dropping your settings.

It may not happen right away, but eventually that FPS drop is going to cost you a game. If you're just playing casually and don't actually care about trying to play optimally then I guess it doesn't matter.

But for anyone that finds the game more enjoyable while winning and would rather not give away an unnecessary game, setting your graphics to a level where you will get no (playable reduction, measurable level of) FPS drop is going to be optimal.

[edit]

I guess I should disclose that I am a textbook type-A and don't find joy in doing anything unless I feel I'm doing it completely optimally. Even while playing SC2 "casually" in the sense of time investment, I have to make sure the time I do spend is best alloted because I'd rather be better at it than not.

Most competitive people I know share the same feelings.

 

[nanobreath]

Spoiler

Who is to say that Mengsk sent Tychus to Raynor in the first place? I guess it could have been Tychus' plan all along, knowing that Raynor was invested in Kerrigan and would most likely go after her. However, I don't buy the theory given by nano concerning why Tychus at first refused to go to Char, calling it a suicide mission. He obviously had no issues trying to kill Kerrigan at the end, I don't see how he'd have any kind of conscious beforehand.

Spoiler

I know I'm getting way into the analysis of the character here, but this is how I see Tychus:

It wasn't a conscious decision on the level of "I know! If I can convince Jim to not go to to char, I won't need to kill Kerrigan." Rather it was part of the subconscious struggle to go through with it. If he wanted to he could have told Jim why he was there, but he didn't. At the same time, even on char he doesn't just up and shoot Kerrigan, but rather told Jim "he made a deal with the devil." and gave Jim time to react. He was obviously conflicted, but he's not the type of person to confide in somebody else, and seek help with his problems. He doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve, and the violent outburst was his outward cry for help and if nothing else, a last ditch effort to avoid seeing the conclusion to his dilemma.

 

[lopri]

A noob question for Zerg players. I was watching some high-level players' replays and they all start constructing an Extractor early then cancel it, only to rebuild it a minute later? Why do they do that?

 

[bhanson]

A noob question for Zerg players. I was watching some high-level players' replays and they all start constructing an Extractor early then cancel it, only to rebuild it a minute later? Why do they do that?

When you start to build any structure, because the building consumes a drone it lowers your food count by 1. Therefore if you're at 10/10 food and start to build an extractor, it will put you at 9/10 so you can start another drone. After you start the extra drone you can cancel the extractor and it will put you at 11/10.

The extractor trick is not very standard anymore and building an overlord on 9/10 is most common.

 

[lopri]

Ah.. I see. Thank you for the explanation.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

When you start to build any structure, because the building consumes a drone it lowers your food count by 1. Therefore if you're at 10/10 food and start to build an extractor, it will put you at 9/10 so you can start another drone. After you start the extra drone you can cancel the extractor and it will put you at 11/10.

The extractor trick is not very standard anymore and building an overlord on 9/10 is most common.

TheLittleOne does it on both extractors at 11 and 12 supply. That's all you need to know.

 

[bhanson]

TheLittleOne does it on both extractors at 11 and 12 supply. That's all you need to know.

There's also a funny Day[9] daily where he's casting one of TLO's games and it went something like:

"And TLO doing the completely standard Zerg double extractor trick ...and by completely standard I mean not even in the slightest but he's TLO and can do whatever he wants."

Paraphrased, but that's generally it.